Chuck Todd touts mock ‘cure’ for Trump news fatigue

WATCH: Studies show that people are overwhelmed by constant breaking news. Now there may be a cure! #MTPDaily pic.twitter.com/7r8WpnJI4l
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 6, 2018
NBC and MSNBC host Chuck Todd touted a mock cure for news fatigue on “Meet the Press Daily” on Wednesday by offering up a fake pharma commercial for a faux drug that warns against taking if suffering from “POTUS.”
The sketch comes as Pew Research found in a poll released Tuesday that nearly 7 in 10 Americans “feel worn out by the amount of news there is these days.”
“The Trump presidency has just consumed the news cycle as well as all of the oxygen in the room,” Todd said on Wednesday. “In fact, our friends at the Pew Research Center finds that nearly 7 in 10 Americans suffer from news fatigue.
“Both Democrats and Republicans report they’re utterly worn out. And really, can you blame them? If only there was something that can help,” he said before drifting into a dream sequence right out of the Saturday Night Live playbook that imagined the cure.
WATCH: Studies show that people are overwhelmed by constant breaking news. Now there may be a cure! #MTPDaily pic.twitter.com/7r8WpnJI4l
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 6, 2018
{mosads}”Introducing Oblivia! Feel like your old self again. Before the news took over everything,” Todd narrates to images of cable news hosts and President Trump.
“Oblivia targets your entire news consumption system, giving you relief from the nonstop pressure,” it continues.
“Now, Oblivia isn’t right for everybody. Don’t take Oblivia if you suffer from Persistent Overactive Twitter Utilization Syndrome, or POTUS,” it cautions, the reference a commonly used acronym for “President of the United States.”
“Side effects may include: Blurry television, underactive blabber, unusual sense of good taste, among other symptoms,” he said.
“Don’t let breaking news break you. Break out of the news cycle. Ask your doctor if Oblivia is right for you,” the mock ad concludes.
The results of the Pew study released Tuesday are relatively consistent across party lines, with 77 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents feeling worn out over how much news there is, and 61 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents feeling the same way.
“The portion expressing feelings of information overload is in line with how Americans felt during the 2016 presidential election, when a majority expressed feelings of exhaustion from election coverage,” the report found.
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